High
Fidelity Review Feature:
A Visit to the SACD Project Studio in Hollywood
Lon
Neumann at his desk/workstation in his SACD Mastering
Room in Hollywood.
During the Consumer Electronics Show (CES 2003) in January,
I spent some time listening to the new Linn Unidisk SACD/DVD-Audio
player with Lon Neumann of the Sony SACD Project. Lon is
the project’s Western Manager of Field Operations and
is based in a studio that is located inside Marcussen Mastering’s
facility in Hollywood . During that listening session, he
invited me to drop by sometime and check out his studio in.
Here’s a report on that recent visit.
Lon’s name appears on many of the SACDs that are produced
in Southern California including the re-mastered SACDs done
by Steve Hoffman and Kevin Gray for Audio Fidelity and Analogue
Productions as well as the Jerry Goldsmith Surround Sound albums
engineered by Bruce Botnick. In many of these cases he serves
as the DSD Transfer Engineer who takes the signal from the
console in these sessions and transfers it to the DSD Hard
Disk recorder. But he also does SACD mastering, authoring and
project coordination. As Neumann says, he wears a variety of
hats in moving SACD disc projects along.
Some Background on Lon Neumann
It turns out that Neumann has quite a resume as a recording
engineer over the years. He started his career in the ‘60s
doing the house sound at the Whiskey A Go-Go and the Roxy in
Hollywood. He then moved into the recording business serving
as a recording engineer for the Wally Heider and Record Plant
remote recording trucks, recording many a concert over the
years.
He also spent time as Stevie Wonder’s engineer and was
responsible for building the first digital recording studio
in Southern California for Stevie Wonder.
After working with Stevie Wonder, he spent a number of years
as a field and marketing engineer for the Mitsubishi X-80 Digital
Studio Recorders and later the comparable Sony Digital Studio
Recorder line. This was followed by stints at Warner Brothers
Studio in film production sound, Grass Valley’s MVision
High Definition Video project, teaching video and sound production
at UCLA, authoring a chapter in the SMPTE Guide to Video and
Sound Recording and most recently his work with the SACD Project
in Hollywood.
Managing The Sonoma DSD Workstations
One of the interesting assignments Neumann has for the SACD
Project is to manage the Sony Sonoma 8 Channel DSD Workstations.
SACD
Project Studio hardware: 3 Hafler powered front
speakers, Sony Sonoma DSD Workstation Software,
Sony XA777ES SACD player, Meitner ADC8 and DAC8
DSD converters, Meitner Switchman II preamp/switcher.
According to Lon, in addition to the Sonoma Workstation that is shared
by Marcussen Mastering and his SACD Project Room, he currently
has Sonoma Workstations at a number of key locations in the
area including Bernie Grundman Mastering and Universal Music
Mastering as well as engineers such as Bruce Botnick and Bernie
Becker.
He also has a “travelling” Sony Sonoma DSD Workstation
that is packed up and ready to go to remote recording and mastering
sessions. It is this set-up that often travels to places like
AcousTech Mastering in Camarillo, California for projects with
Steve Hoffman and Kevin Gray. In fact, the travelling set-up
had just returned from the sessions for Audio Fidelity’s
upcoming ‘Reggae in Hi-Fi’ hybrid stereo
SACD with Hoffman and Gray. That SACD is due out from Audio
Fidelity in the months ahead.
Equipment in the SACD Project Room
Neumann believes that simplifying the signal path whenever
possible is the best recipe for good, clean sound. The SACD
Project Room mirrors that philosophy. It features a PC that
serves as the Sony Sonoma DSD 8 Channel Workstation, Meitner
DAC8 and ADC8 DSD Digital to Analog and Analog to Digital Converters,
the Meitner Switchman II switcher/preamp, a Sony XA-777ES multi-channel
SACD player, 5 Hafler TRM-8 powered speakers and a Hafler TRM-12
powered subwoofer.
Some Upcoming SACD Releases:
Lon had the DSD master tapes on hand from some SACD projects
he is working on, so he powered up the Sony Sonoma 8 Channel
DSD Workstation and we had a listen to a couple of his current
favorites from these upcoming SACD releases.
‘Mitchi’ from ‘Sacred
Journey of Ku-kai’ by Kitaro (Domo Records
73024-2 SACD)
The first selection was from Kitaro’s new surround sound
SACD entitled ‘Sacred Journey of Ku-Kai’. The new
Kitaro album was released in early September on CD and will
be out as a hybrid layer surround sound SACD on October 21st.
The selection I heard made extensive use of all 5 speakers
in the surround sound field with panned sound effects of the
surf and water as well as a synthesizer. The Kitaro selection
was a very nice use of the capabilities of surround sound SACD
and Kitaro fans will like this one.
Sony
Sonoma DSD Workstation Software.
‘The Derby’ from ‘Seabiscuit Soundtrack’ by
Randy Newman (Decca B0001701-36)
Next up was a selection from the ‘Seabiscuit Soundtrack’ entitled ‘The
Derby’. The music on this Surround SACD was composed
by Randy Newman and Lon commented on how much he has enjoyed
working with Newman on this SACD project. The Derby starts
off with just a few instruments playing before it begins to
build and the full orchestra joins in. A lot of fun in surround
sound SACD.
‘The Sound of Settling’ from ‘Transatlanticism’ by
Death Cab for Cutie (Barsuk 7SAB 31032)
Leaving the world of surround sound SACDs, Lon then put on
a selection from the upcoming hybrid stereo SACD from the rock
group Death Cab for Cutie. Ever since this SACD release was
announced there has been a lot of interest from rock fans about
when it will be released. The latest word is the Barsuk label
is looking at a release of the SACD version on November 4th
with a vinyl LP release that was cut from the DSD master tape
coming to market later on. The selection we listened to via
the DSD master tape and the Sonoma DSD Workstation featured
some fine straight ahead rock. Very enjoyable and this will
be an SACD to watch for.
Part II - Crest National, Marcussen Mastering and a
preview of The Who’s ‘Tommy’ surround
SACD
In Part II of this report, I'll tell you about the rest of
my visit to the SACD facilities on Hollywood. The visit included
a trip to the Crest National pressing plant, a tour of Marcussen
Mastering and a preview of the upcoming Surround Sound SACD
Deluxe Edition of The Who’s ‘Tommy’.
Brian Moura - 21/10/2003
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